A serious fire broke out at dawn today in the Chiaia neighborhood of Naples, involving the building housing the Sannazaro Theater on Via Chiaia. The particularly high flames were visible even from a great distance for several hours, while a dense column of smoke invaded the surrounding area, making the air unbreathable and forcing many residents to close their windows. The news was reported by the Naples Today newspaper, which reconstructed the stages of the emergency. Numerous firefighting and law enforcement vehicles quickly responded to the scene to contain the blaze, which was later extinguished. The cause of the fire remains to be clarified.
According to widespread reports, the situation appeared particularly serious from the start. The dome of the theater was reportedly completely destroyed by the flames, and as it collapsed, it would affect the stalls. Damage would also have occurred to adjacent buildings. Smoke from the blaze caused breathing difficulties for several local residents, some of whom were taken to the hospital for investigation. No life-threatening injuries were reported. Messages of alarm appeared on social media during the most critical hours from residents of the neighborhood, urging them to keep their windows closed because of the unbreathable air. Lara Sansone, the theater’s owner and artistic director, niece of actress Luisa Conte, also arrived at the scene of the fire. Massimiliano Manfredi, president of the Campania Regional Council, also spoke on the incident.
“The dome of the Sannazaro Theater, affected by tonight’s fire, has collapsed onto the stalls,” Manfredi writes in a Facebook post. “The flames continue to blaze high, aided by the wind, and lap the nearby church of Sant’Orsola a Chiaia. Meanwhile, firefighting vehicles continue to arrive, while law enforcement officers man several points to prevent the passage of pedestrians. I express my heartfelt sympathy to the artistic director of Teatro Sannazaro, Lara Sansone, to all the staff of the theater and to the people who were reportedly intoxicated in the fire, with the hope that there was no serious damage to people and property, to this important artistic and cultural reality of our city and to the neighboring buildings. I thank the Fire Department for the work they are doing in these hours and the other authorities who intervened. Full solidarity to all those involved. We will closely follow the development of the situation.”
To understand the weight of the episode, it is necessary to trace the history of the Sannazaro, which was inaugurated on December 26, 1847, in the presence of the Neapolitan aristocracy at the behest of Don Giulio Mastrilli, duke of Marigliano, who financed its construction. The project was entrusted to Fausto Niccolini, with architects Antonio and Gennaro France directing the work. Chronicles of the time described the theater as an elegant jolie bouquet, a graceful ensemble decorated in white and gold, with frescoes by Palliotti and an almost circular-shaped hall with four tiers of boxes, stalls-level seating and a large gallery. Throughout the 19th and early decades of the 20th century the stage hosted figures such as Eleonora Duse, Sarah Bernhardt, Ernesto Rossi, Ermete Zacconi and Tina Di Lorenzo, as well as playwrights such as Achille Torelli, Roberto Bracco and Eduardo Scarpetta. Works by Gabriele D’Annunzio, Ferdinando Russo, Ernesto Murolo and Libero Bovio were staged at the Sannazaro. The meeting between Eduardo De Filippo and Luigi Pirandello also took place in the hall.
After the wartime and postwar crisis, which led to its transformation into a cinema and gradual deterioration, the theater was taken over in the second half of the 1960s by Nino Veglia and Luisa Conte. It reopened on November 12, 1971, with Annella di Portacapuana by Gennaro D’Avino in Michele Prisco’s reduction, performed by the Compagnia Stabile Napoletana. This was followed by titles that marked a season of great attendance, up to the record audiences recorded in the mid-1970s. In those years the Sannazaro consolidated a line that combined traditional repertoire and new writing. Upon the death of Luisa Conte, artistic direction passed to Lara Sansone, who continued the activity while maintaining a constant reference to the Neapolitan theatrical tradition and developing productions between prose, music and variety. Since 1996, the theater has also relaunched the Café Chantant genre, flanking its programming with moments of historical insight, exhibitions and editorial presentations dedicated to the Neapolitan scene. Since 2018, Sannazaro has been recognized as a theater production center by the Ministry of Culture.
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| Naples, historic Sannazaro Theater in Chiaia on fire: dome collapses, neighborhood in smoke |
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